Is it possible that Apple knew what it was doing when it excluded Adobe Flash from being preinstalled in the latest MacBook Air models? A new report claims that the controversial Flash technology can kill battery life on the slim new laptops by as much as two hours.

Yesterday we had brought it to you about the Skyfire app that could convert Flash video into HTML 5. According to the developer's blog, the app has become so popular, that it has 'sold out' in the app store, and they are temporarily not accepting new purchases from the App Store.

The Flash fashion is so passe. Everyone knows that the best things in life are encoded in HTML 5 and available for all the world to see, regardless of the smartphone you've got in your hand. The new Skyfire browser, ready to set foot inside the App Store, converts video from the old school Adobe Flash into the next generation HTML 5 code it needs for all systems to go.

It seems inevitable that after a major product announcement like the twin MacBook Air models released by Apple on Wednesday, early adopters always find some bugaboo to complain about. This time it’s a most curious one, since the new diskless models are shipping without Adobe Flash installed.

What a mad treasure trove of riches Adobe's corporate blog has been of late! In the past few days, they've waxed over their return to the iPhone application development arena, announced an HTML 5 plug-in for Illustrator and now this: A 64-bit beta version of their love-it-or-hate-it Flash Player! What could be better? According to Adobe the new player, which Adobe has called "Flash Player Square," is available for just about every operating system under the sun, including OS X.

A scant few days after announcing that Adobe was back in the Flash-to-iPhone compiler business, the company let loose word that they'll also be offering up the ability for web designers to create HTML5-based widgets and whatnot in Illustrator CS5, thanks to a new service pack now available for download. The ability to output HTML 5 content from Illustrator CS5 dovetails nicely with the same ability already enjoyed by Dreamweaver CS5 users. What does it all mean? Given the raging popularity of Adobe's Creative Suite applications, we can all expect to enjoy the same content-rich online experience no matter which device we choose to prowl the interwebz with.

Could it be that Adobe has won their long standing slap-fight with Apple? With Cupertino easing the restrictions placed upon developers who wanted to use third-party software solutions to produce applications for iOS devices, Adobe has signaled that they'll restart development on their Flash-to-iPhone compiler Packager. You may recall that back in April, Adobe gave up on the support and development of the software solution in light of Apple's decision to disallow third-party development software from producing applications destined for the iTunes App Store.

It looks like devout iPhone users may have some new ammunition to lob at their Android toting counterparts: While the iPhone and other iOS devices might be able to run Flash videos or applications, Flash running on an Android handset--a key differentiator if you were to ask any fandroid--is pretty terrible. If you're interested in some proof, Gigaom has the video to prove it.

Until websites widely adopt the new HTML5 standard, which is the modern way to play videos in formats such as H.264 without the need for proprietary plug-ins like Flash Player, we’ve got some tips on how you can have the best of both worlds: How to responsibly use Flash when you need to, but still retain control of your Mac’s precious resources.

The lack of Flash on mobile devices can be a bummer for some, but the video streaming site Vimeo hopes to solve this on their end. Vimeo is the latest video streaming site to test a new HTML5 video player that is iOS-friendly. This new "Universal Player," which is set to be released later today, will allow viewers to watch video on their devices natively.